Developing strategy through possibilities and strategic scenarios — a structured process for non-profit and international development organizations.
Leaders who need to develop new answers to the fundamental questions of why their organizations exist and what its future could look like. Strategy practitioners that want to apply a structured formulation process.
Illustrates key concepts around strategy formulation for a non-profit organization. Provides a structured process and detailed steps to implement it. Includes examples and working templates.
Provide a structured and yet simple process for formulating strategy, bringing both theory and practice. Strategy is a series of conscious and coherent decisions to maximize the impact of the organization given its resources, assets and capabilities.
Make sense of the landscape that surrounds the organization and assess its internal maturity. Understand the ecosystem, trends, needs, donor expectations and the work of other players to craft a unique role.
Review the actual needs that beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries are going through. Assess whether the current focus is placed in the right areas.
Understand the main trends impacting the organization's work and map the dynamics and roles of all players that comprise the ecosystem.
Have a solid understanding of the funding landscape and how it might affect the organization's fundraising strategy and sustainability.
Understand at a deep level the organization's resources, assets and capabilities and its constraints — the foundation any successful strategy must be built upon.
Frame the challenges the organization is facing and identify new possibilities that the landscape offers. A well-crafted challenge becomes a key reference to gauge and compare potential strategies.
Review the landscape assessment and formulate the key challenges the organization is facing. Separate root causes from symptoms and consequences.
Explore in more detail the different possibilities that emerged during the exploration phase — aspects of a potential future that the organization can pursue.
Generate a set of strategic scenarios combining the strategic possibilities. Turn possibilities into feasible and exciting narratives that provide alternative futures for the organization.
Cluster the possibilities from Step 2 into 3-4 coherent scenario directions through a creative, facilitated conversation.
Each scenario team develops their assigned scenario into a full narrative with strategic objectives, key moves, risks, and success markers.
Assess all scenarios side by side, then determine the strategic direction — choosing one scenario or assembling a superior hybrid from the strongest elements of each.
Analyse and synthesise scenarios into a new strategic direction, defining strategic objectives and key initiatives to implement. Create a superior scenario that takes the best from all options.
Create a superior option that takes the best from the previous options and unpacks it in terms of strategic objectives, key initiatives, and a compelling narrative.
Translate the strategy definitions into a strategic plan with clear accountabilities, milestones and indicators. Prioritize and resource key strategic initiatives.
Share strategy with key stakeholders, refine and communicate both externally and internally. Ensure alignment, test coherence, and garner wide support for the new strategic direction.
Socialize the strategy with key internal and external stakeholders with the aim of securing support and buy in, testing coherence and incorporating new perspectives.
Help the organization absorb the change implied by the new strategy, ensuring the scope and pace of change is manageable and that staff are ready and equipped.
Understand the progress made, results achieved, and adjustments needed — running continuously throughout and beyond the strategy cycle. Strategy without measurement is strategy without learning.
Build a system of indicators that tracks both strategy implementation and key strategic results and outcomes — combining laggard and leading indicators for each strategic objective.
Set up a deliberate system and cadence of meetings — from monthly tactical reviews to quarterly progress reviews to annual strategy evaluations — to keep strategy alive and drive accountability.
Conduct a structured evaluation of whether the strategy is working — looking inside at impact, implementability, and ownership, and outside at external environment alignment and stakeholder traction.
Tool description